The present invention relates to a process for producing a superconducting thin film, notably a process for forming a superconducting thin film made of a IIa-IIIa-Cu oxide on the surface of a substrate.
Superconducting materials hold much promise for use in various cryoelectronic devices such as Josephson devices and SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device) sensors. For use as such superconducting materials, various oxide ceramics have conventionally been prepared by the sintering process. The oxide ceramics so far proposed are described below together with the transition temperatures at which they start to manifest superconductivity:
______________________________________ Ceramics Transition Temperature ______________________________________ Sc--Ba--Cu oxide 175 K Y--Ba--Cu oxide 123 K La--Sr--Cu oxide 54 K La--Ba--Cu oxide 30 K ______________________________________
Superconducting materials need to be processed into thin films in order that they can be used in cryoelectronic devices such as Josephson devices and SQUID sensors. However, conventional superconducting materials have been processed into oxide ceramics by the sintering process, which is practically ineffective for the production of superconducting thin films.